


a moment's quiet

by ahatfullofoctarine (orphan_account)



Series: January Fluffabet Drabble Challenge [18]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Propositions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-20 22:19:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17630753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ahatfullofoctarine
Summary: Pelna wanders off. Nyx finds him. Peace ensues.PelNyx. AU where Lucis won the war





	a moment's quiet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theorchardofbones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theorchardofbones/gifts).



> For the prompt: "Quiet" from the Jan A-Z challenge, thanks buddy :D
> 
> Music:  
> Something I Need - OneRepublic  
> Little Wonders - Rob Thomas  
> I Guess That's Love - Mikuni Shimokawa
> 
> Also thank you Ep Ignis for giving birth to the multi-verse theory because now i can chill out in my happy ever after -verse forever

King Noctis’ announcement of Niflheim’s surrender and subsequent order for a ceasefire via telepathic link is processed differently across the glaive, and very apparent if you're the one Drautos picks to do the headcount. Libertus makes like a starfish in the dirt, lies snug between the smoking, recently-vacated exoskeletons of two recently felled MAs and promptly goes to sleep. Crowe is somehow already perched on a rock with her phone, playing Verum Rex’s latest DLC, Sonitus beside her occasionally murmuring tips to help navigate the water level. Tredd and Axis are sitting in one of the van’s open trunk, sharing a bag of chips between them. Reclined in the van's driver's seat, Luche is noting down the more detailed conditions of Niflheim’s surrender from the radio, occasionally flicking ash from his cigarette out the window.

“...and to no one's surprise or notice, Pelna's disappeared,” Nyx mutters, circling his name on the clipboard.

Almost as if the universe rises to the challenge, his phone vibrates in his side pocket, followed by his earpiece beeping to signal an incoming comms. Nyx presses the button to answer, frowning at the message on his phone screen.

**_14.0438° S, 171.5623° W_ **

“ _Don't worry_ ,” Pelna says on the other end, “ _he didn't get far_.”

“Better not. Drautos is gonna have my ass if your name goes unchecked, bud.”

Pelna snorts.  _“Not sure if I should be flattered or horrified by that.”_

“ _Flatterfied_?”

Pelna laughs. “ _Flatterfied. Alright, see you in a bit, hero.”_

“Copy that.”

Nyx makes a final note on the clipboard and tosses it onto the stomach of a snoring Libertus, whose only reflex at that point in his REM cycle is to hug the thing like a teddy bear.

“Fraternizing,” Crowe teases as Nyx passes. She doesn't glance up from her phone, but Sonitus does, smirking wide enough for the both of them.

“Nosy,” Nyx retorts, chucking his pen over his shoulder.

 

. . .

 

It takes more than 'a bit' to get to his teammate. Actually, it's a fifteen minute hike uphill through thickened undergrowth before Nyx finds Pelna again, and it's more accurate to say that Pelna finds him.

If he's being honest; Nyx works up a thirst on the tail end of that expedition, so a good ninety per cent of the effort is concentrated on following the sounds of running water. Up, up, and-

“Whoa!” Pelna says, catching him by the arm before he tumbles over the crater's edge. 

The bottom of the crater is a tourist's wet dream: a sunlit lake so sparkling clear you have to squint to keep looking at, but Nyx mostly winces from contemplating the bone-breaking splash he'd make if he did wind up belly-flopping.

“ _Shit_. Thanks man.”

Pelna shrugs. “You know me; always looking to even the score whenever I can.”

 

. . . 

 

Silence.

Real silence. A silence no longer marred by gunfire and explosions, but permeated by wind rustling leaves and bird song.

In a post-Glacian Gralea that's still in the relatively early thawing stages, it's tempting to think that he’s seeing a mirage. Lush vegetation lining the sides of a beautiful lake at the bottom of a crater isn't a sight one typically expects to see in a country that had been doomed to endless winter since Aldercapt ordered the assault on the Glacian. Negative karma points scored on that front.

Then again, now that they aren't at war anymore, maybe the Glacian’s desire to see the surviving denizens of Gralea punished has also ebbed.

_Bye bye earplugs._

Pelna nudges him. “Think I'm close to the single digits now, even Steven,” he says. “Maybe two King Behemoths shy of my stretch goal.   _Hello_ endgame.”

Nyx laughs and just squeezes Pelna's shoulder. Tries not to think about his own stretch goal concerning the guy in front of him. Tries to keep those thoughts pure.

_A nice cold cannonball into the water would help._

Pelna unsheathes his glaive from its holster, tossing it up and down.

“View's much better up close,” he explains. “See that platform down there? Think you can make the jump?  I'm pretty sure there's an underwater lake, too, we can go check that out as well.”

Nyx yawns and nods, stretching his arms over his head. 

Pelna smirks. “Or...we can wait till you have your afternoon nap.  Sorry, I forgot old folks need those.”

“Little sh-”

Pelna hurls the glaive right as Nyx tackles him, the two of them plunging into the water. It isn’t freezing cold like Nyx was expecting, but the sudden change from arid to gelid is still a shock to the system, has him gasping and then coughing when they resurface.  Something lightly hits him in the temple, floating idly in front of him before sinking to the bottom.

“Awake now?” Pelna calls, treading water out of Nyx’s strangling range...

...but only  _just_.

“Could have at least left our gear on the rocks.” Nyx mutters, edging closer.  “That was a hundred gil headset Pel.”

“Ehh, two hundred, including yours.” Pelna corrects with a snicker.  “We’re off the clock, so it doesn't matter anymore.”

“Says who?”

“ _I_  says.  _Everyone who's ever had front row seats to this ugly war_  says. Don't tell me you're hankering for another twelve years of blood and daemon cocktail.”

Pelna dives back underwater before Nyx can answer, retrieving his dagger and swimming back to the platform to ditch his glaive fatigues, laying them out in the sun.  Nyx temporarily suspends his revenge plans and swims over, opting to do the same. He lingers on his earpiece though, turning over the now useless piece of tech between his fingers.

Twelve years of orders issued and obeyed, of being in each other’s ear through the sub-optimal times, and the downright shitty.

Twelve years and now he’s on precipice of letting go.

“Takes some getting used to, but you’ll get there.” Pelna says, now tugging off his boots and turning them over to get some of the water out.

“Already seen you naked, Pel. Underwear isn’t  _that_ big of an adjustment--” Nyx laughs, ducking in time to avoid Pelna’s socks, then tackles the guy back into the water not two seconds after.

The earpiece goes flying while they wrestle, bobs on the water's surface for half a second before slipping soundlessly into the deep.

Forgotten.

 

. . .

 

It’s a little past three in the afternoon when they crawl onto the platform again, lying side by side in the sun listening to Galadhian folk music. Nyx on his stomach and staring at the water, Pelna on his back spread eagle style. Pelna’s phone--latest model, latest OS,  _all_ the memory-- had a more extensive library, but the thing had gotten waterlogged to the point where it was ninety percent water and ten percent phone.  All the more sweeter on Nyx's part when you consider that Pelna’s an electronics snob and Nyx's model was obsolete to the point of ancient with a bullet hole in the top right quadrant and  _still_ functions normally. A fact that Pelna  _bristles_ at. It’s difficult to say if it comes with the territory of being the glaive's communications expert, or if Pelna always has been a snob since day one and the role simply exacerbated it but their current setting is better suited to dwelling on more crucial things.

Like what your teammate and unrequited crush has planned for the immediate future, for starters, and how to broach the topic without giving up the ghost.

And without, you know, coming across as 'clingy' after years spent on the road and in the field together and occasionally complaining about being stuck together, that sort of thing.

“Man. These are pretty sweet.” Pelna says, of the expensive aviators perched on his nose. He'd found them while digging through Nyx's pockets for rations. “How come you never wear them?”

“Was saving them for the victory parade.”

“Oh... Sorry, did you want them back?”

“Not at the moment, nah. Nothing to be sorry about, honestly.” Nyx promises, smiling. Bahamut take him if he had a gil for every nice, thoughtful thing this guy's ever said or done for him on the road. “You suit them better; nice bone structure and all that.”

“‘Nice bone structure’,” Pelna chuckles, poking him in the arm. “War got you all kinds of sentimental, huh?”

Nyx turns onto his side to face him. “Why so surprised?”

“Seriously? You  _brood_.  _A lot_. Bottling everything in and all that. Not that the rest of us don't have our own demons to contend with come sundown, just that you're the last person I'd ever expect to share. But,” he adds as Nyx opens his mouth to protest, “in the spirit of keeping this positivity train going--your tattoos are interesting. Never would've painted you for a minimalist, with all that introspective work going on up there.”

“Heh. Wait till you see my apartment,” Nyx answers, not really thinking about how that sounds until he actually hears it aloud and quickly scrambles for cover. “Uh. Tiny shoebox of a thing, washing machine and dryer and bathroom all rolled up into one--”

“Fold out bed?”

“Fold out  _couch-bed_.  Sometimes I use the living room to workout.”

Pelna gives him a ‘ _dude, seriously?_ ’ look.

“ _Most_ times.” Nyx admits sheepishly.

Pelna shakes his head but smiles.  “Well, when you feel like getting a second chair, you hit me up, okay Mr. Minimalist?”

“Uh, well I mean. It's a pretty big couch as far as couches go. Plenty of room for two.”

Pelna gives a low whistle.

“Nyx if I didn't know any better I'd say you were propositioning me.”

“Pelna if I didn't know better, I'd say that you approached an overwhelmingly wholesome invitation with your mind in the gutter.”

_Astrals, can't get anything past this guy._

A pause. “So I take it we're both dumbasses then,” Pelna says, and they both snort, then crack up laughing.

There's a rustling of the shrubbery at the mouth of the crater, followed by Crowe stepping out into the sunlight. She glances over her shoulder at whoever’s following and yells, ‘Found them!’

Great. “Here comes the cavalry,” Nyx mutters.

“We're not telling them about the cave.”

“Pretty sure the secret cave with the secret crystal's the least of our problems.”

“Agreed. Plus I don't wanna piss off the Florian, I mean she's pretty and ‘nice’ but fuck she's scary.”

“Ehh, she's not that bad.”

Crowe fiddles with her earpiece, and when that doesn't work, she cups her hands around her mouth.

“HOW’S THE WATER? DID YOU DINGUSES BONE? ASKING FOR SCIENCE.”

“‘Dingus’, that's a new one.” Nyx remarks.

“Astrals, she's embarrassing,” Pelna mutters.

“Ooh I'm telling her you said that!”

Pelna hits him and then turns his attention to her. “WATER'S GREAT! NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!”

Crowe flips him the bird in response.

“Could've just said ‘no’,” Nyx says, unable to suppress a grin from the giddy feeling bubbling up in his stomach.

“Nah, they've got a betting poll going on.”

“A betting poll ?” No wonder those two are invested. “How do you even know that?”

“Long story,” says Pelna. “I'll explain next time we're alone, which is looking to most definitely be at yours.”

Nyx pokes him, grinning. “Thought you didn't like my couch.”

Pelna swats him off. “Thought  _you_ said there was plenty of room for  _two_.”

Nyx tilts his head, eyebrow raised. “Was that a--”

“Shush. She's getting ready to warp,” Pelna says.

Nyx dutifully complies, but only with the willingness of one who's made a mental note to exact revenge at a date that's a lot closer to the immediate future than expected.

It's gonna be a long ride back to Insomnia for  _one_ of them, that's for sure.

**Author's Note:**

> if Pelna's phone was still working they'd be listening to 90s RnB Love Ballads  
> specifically Toni Braxton and Boyz II Men  
> i'm having the best time picturing the glaive jamming to 'Breathe Again' and 'Un-Break My Heart' in the van all the way back to Insomnia


End file.
